Gloucester and Cheltenham Waterscapes Project

At Springbank Community Resource Centre in Cheltenham, a previously unused space has been transformed into the Waterscapes project’s largest planter-style rain garden, helping to capture surface run-off from the roof and provide a welcoming view to the front of the Centre. 

Designed to hold back over 1,200 litres of rainwater, the garden intercepts rainfall from a nearby downpipe and stores it within the soil and root systems. This slows the flow of water, helps prevent localised flooding, and supports a vibrant new pocket of biodiversity.

A dry stone ‘riverbed’ channels rainwater from its entry points right through the garden, ensuring plants across the bed benefit. The carefully chosen planting includes:

• Sarcococca (sweet box) for year-round scent
• Astilbe for bold colour and pollinator appeal
• Hart's-tongue fern for rich, green structure

This new feature brings both function and beauty to a busy community space. 

The first rain garden installed as part of the Waterscapes project at Tuffley Court Community Centre set the tone for what was to come. It features the only steel planter of the project — a sleek, durable structure that holds back over 600 litres of rainwater and was constructed with help from community volunteers.

This rain garden not only manages surface water but also acts as a focal point for the centre’s outdoor space. To enhance the experience further, a bespoke ‘living bench’ was added — a striking structure made from gabion stone and sedum planting, blending form, function, and nature.

Designed for both flood prevention and relaxation, the garden has become a space for connection and calm. 

Right outside of the Accident and Emergency entrance at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, an unloved patch of ground has been transformed into a welcoming and functional space — a circular rain garden with built-in seating. 

This feature collects up to 800 litres of rainwater, reducing surface water flooding while creating a biodiverse green spot for staff, patients and visitors to enjoy. It brings nature and calm right into the heart of the hospital environment, supporting both wellbeing and the local ecosystem.

Designed by local artist Miss Fire, the central water slide sculpture adds a playful and eye-catching focal point. Rainwater travels visibly from the downpipe into the garden — a simple but powerful reminder of how nature-based solutions work in real time.

Planting has been chosen with care. Ferns and rushes like Asplenium scolopendrium and Juncus inflexus soak up moisture in the centre, while ivy, Vinca minor, and Ajuga reptans thrive around the edges. All are tough, beautiful, and brilliant for pollinators. 

Watch the video: Richard Graham MP visits the rain garden 

At Warden Hill, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust has created its largest sunken rain garden to date. With over 10 tonnes of soil removed, this space can now hold back more than 5,000 litres of water, helping to reduce surface runoff and improving water quality as the plants grow and naturally filter pollutants.

The rain garden is bursting with colour and texture — planted with verbena, echinacea, ajuga, aubretia, erigeron, and Mexican feather grass, chosen for their beauty, movement, and biodiversity value.

A central walkway encourages people to explore the garden up close, while Corten steel planters and timber sleepers frame the space and define the boundary. This thoughtful design balances function with community engagement. 

Local schoolchildren, Co-op staff, and family members from the community all helped plant up the garden, creating a real sense of ownership and pride. 

Watch the video: Rain Garden at Warden Hill. 

In some drives, individual stones were removed and replaced with planting; and flower beds added along the borders. These small tweaks create big visual and environmental impact while still being car friendly. 

One driveway had its tarmac replaced with a permeable surface made of stone set within a recycled plastic grid, laid on sand. This method allows rainwater to soak naturally into the ground, rather than rushing into storm drains.

In this case, the tarmac was replaced with gravel with recycled paving slabs used to make a path. A water butt planter was also added to create more habitat for wildlife while storing water. 

Can we change driveway four text to: This driveway kept its main surface, which was gravel, but we added a planting strip down the centre of the driveway and a green-roofed bin store — an easy win that allows water to infiltrate the soil, and creates a natural corridor for pollinators.

We’ve added green roofs to bus stops and bin stores to create tiny habitat hubs for pollinators — part of a wider urban nature corridor. These roofs soak up rainwater, trap pollutants, and bloom with sedum and wildflowers that support bees and butterflies. 

In Charlton Kings, green-roofed bin shelters link planted front gardens, while in Warden Hill, a new green-roofed bus stop joins verge planting and a rain garden to form a connected green route. 

We’ve used pollinator-friendly plants like echinacea, verbena, and ajuga to stitch together a wildlife highway through parks, streets, and gardens. These vibrant blooms support insects and birds, while mini ponds offer water and habitat in even the smallest spaces. 

Together, these pockets of planting form a green thread through our neighbourhoods, helping nature thrive. 

Plock Court was designated a wetland in 2010, with two scrapes (shallow depressions) designed to hold back floodwater. But flooding on the playing fields persisted, leading to a major expansion as part of the Waterscapes project.

Four new scrapes were created, and two existing ones dredged, significantly increasing their water-holding capacity. Plock Court can now store over one million litres of water, which is the equivalent to three swimming pools!

Vegetation planted around the scrapes boosts biodiversity and strengthens the soil:

• Flood-resilient trees like river birch, common oak and bird cherry
• Native shrubs including holly, guelder-rose, and hawthorn to stabilise banks
• Wildflowers such as ragged robin, ox-eye daisy and birds-foot trefoil 

Bioblitz and moth surveys have already recorded species like willow warbler, house martin, and kestrel, as well as rare moths found only in this area.

A HabiMap survey identified the landscape as reedbeds and wetlands, helping inform better conservation for the future.

Green sandpipers and little egrets have been spotted feeding in the scrapes, and house martins use the muddy edges for nesting material.

Boardwalks have been installed which help visitors explore the site without disturbing the ecosystem. 

In 2007, Naunton Park experienced severe flooding, with gardens left submerged for days. Today, thanks to the Waterscapes project, this cherished green space is now supported by nature-based solutions to flooding.

• A new swale — a shallow, vegetated channel — has been installed in the park’s lowest and wettest corner. It captures heavy rainfall and releases it slowly into the surrounding ground, helping protect nearby homes from flooding while creating a new habitat for wetland plants and insects.
• Four new wildflower meadows have been seeded with native species like yellow rattle, attracting pollinators such as butterflies and bees.
• Newly planted trees offer future shade and help absorb surface water, with mature trees like oaks known to absorb up to 400 litres of water a day during the growing season.
• A surfaced circular path now winds around the park, increasing accessibility and encouraging local people to explore and enjoy the enhanced green space. 

Children from Naunton Park Primary School helped seed one of the wildflower meadows and took part in hands-on learning with interactive flood models — showing how nature-based solutions can protect our homes and climate.

Robinswood Hill Country Park is known for its stunning views — but during storms, huge volumes of water can surge downhill and threaten nearby homes. To combat this, the Waterscapes team implemented a series of leaky dams, made using felled ash trees laid across flow routes on the hillside.

These natural barriers slow the flow of water, allowing it to back up and gradually soak into the land, rather than rushing into drains downstream.

The felled trees also increase ground-level debris, promoting transpiration (evaporation of water back into the atmosphere) and opening the woodland canopy for more light to reach the forest floor, encouraging biodiversity. 

This nature-based approach creates a resilient, thriving woodland that’s better able to support both wildlife and local communities. 

Listen to The Voices of the River webinar: Ep. 13: Waterscapes: Slowing the Flow 

We hosted several pop-up exhibitions across schools, local events, and at Robinswood Hill Country Park reaching audiences with interactive displays about Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS), biodiversity improvements, and how residents can help nature thrive while building climate resilience in their own gardens and streets. 

Interested in bringing Waterscapes to your school, business, park, or community event?  

Get in touch with our team at info@gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk. 

We delivered talks and presentations to a wide range of audiences – from school children and community groups to project stakeholders and professionals working in similar fields across the UK. These sessions explored the challenges of urban flooding, showcased the impact of natural flood management and sustainable urban drainage systems, and offered practical tips for people to take action in their own communities. 

Want to inspire your group or team with real-world solutions to climate resilience?  

Book a talk or presentation by emailing info@gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk – we’d love to join you. 

We delivered volunteering sessions involving rain garden building and planting, habitat improvements and tree planting. These sessions not only supported the landscape but also empowered people to roll up their sleeves and be part of the solution. 

Ready to get your hands dirty for nature? Explore upcoming opportunities on our Volunteer Hub and be part of the positive change.